Discover tricks for having happy thoughts at night and avoiding nightmares

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams

You hate how your mother-in-law meddles in your marriage, so it’s no shocker when you tell her off in your dream—dreams are, after all, your brain’s way of working through unresolved conflicts. But what can explain that recent string of random nightmares or incredibly vivid visions? “We know a bit about things that affect dream recall and make for more nightmares,” says Deirdre Barrett, PhD, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, and author of The Committee of Sleep. So here, 11 surprising things that can influence what pops up in your dreams or how likely you are to remember them.

Smells

Smells

Do sweet smells lead to sweet dreams? One small study found that sniffing flowers at a particular point in the sleep cycle led to more positive dreams, while a sulphur odor was linked to negative ones. Though researchers say you can’t replicate those results in your bedroom (by the time you’re dreaming, that lilac blossom scent you spritzed pre-bedtime can’t stimulate you), there’s a possibility that a sudden aroma—bacon wafting up from the kitchen, for example—could infiltrate your dream. “Dreams are sleep protective,” says J. Catesby Ware, PhD, Chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, in Norfolk, VA. “So instead of waking up, you incorporate those stimuli into your dream.”